Baker Mayfield rightfully wants to stick it to Browns — no matter what he says

Revenge or not? 

Of course, revenge. And why not? 

Baker Mayfield has every right to want to stick it to the Browns. 

Never mind the message Mayfield tried to convey this week in the leadup to the showdown Sunday against his former team in Charlotte, N.C., as he quarterbacks his new team, the Panthers for the first time in their uniform. 

Mayfield believes he was wronged by the Browns, the team that drafted him first overall in 2018, and there’s no argument here that Cleveland management bungled its handling of its supposed franchise quarterback with its clumsy pursuit of Deshaun Watson. 

Baker wants the blood of the Browns on Sunday. Don’t fool yourself into thinking anything otherwise. 

And why shouldn’t Mayfield, who was traded to the Panthers for what amounted to a bag of balls in July 6, harbor ill feelings toward his former team? 

Wouldn’t you feel at least a little bit slighted if your employer, whom you made better (Mayfield led Cleveland to the playoffs in 2020), unceremoniously replaced you with a person facing civil litigation for some two dozen counts of sexual harassment and assault (Watson) and handed him $230 million in guaranteed money? 

“I’m grateful for the time I had in Cleveland,” Mayfield told reporters as part of his I’m-cool-with-everything campaign this week. “I started my career there. It ended abruptly and unexpectedly. But we’re here now. Everything happens for a reason, and I’m rolling with the punches and I’m happy to be a Panther.’’ 

Mayfield, who went 29-30 as the Browns starter in four seasons, recently has dropped a series of salty hints about his Cleveland dismay, like a trail of crumbs in the woods leading to Sunday’s emotional showdown. 

The first came unwittingly during the Panthers Aug. 26 preseason game against the Bills when, in what was a private sideline conversation (not on camera) with NFL Network analytics reporter Cynthia Frelund. Mayfield reportedly told her, “I’m going to f–k them up,’’ in reference to the Browns. 

Mayfield, a few days later, denied using that phrase, saying “all I did was agree’’ with what she said to him. Frelund later confessed she should never have shared the private conversation in public on a podcast. 

The mind games continued, with Mayfield delivering some subliminal messages about the Browns with the “Off The Leash’’ T-shirts he’s selling for the opener Sunday at Bank of America Stadium. 

Mayfield also took some subtle shots at Browns head coach Kevin Stefanksi in reference to the latitude he has been given to audible by Panthers head coach Matt Rhule, saying, “This system especially I think is going to fit me well, just being able to play free.’’ 

Cleveland cornerback Greg Newsome II said of the Mayfield reunion: “I would be lying if I said it’s not going to add something.’’ 

Mayfield called his debut against his former team “a great storyline … because I wasn’t expected to be out of Cleveland. But after Week 1, there’s 16 more that really, really matter. That’s how I’m approaching it.” 

That, too, is how Mayfield’s replacement (while Watson serves his suspension), Jacoby Brissett, is approaching the game. 

“I was not here with him last year, so I do not care, really,” Brissett told reporters. “It is the Browns versus the Panthers. It is nameless, faceless opponents.” 

In this case, that cliché answer from Brissett doesn’t exactly apply. 

“Obviously, there’s a lot of attachment there,’’ Mayfield said. “I’m not going to sit here and be a robot and say it doesn’t mean anything. It will.’’ 

As it should.